Railroad-rail spike.



J. KRUTTSGHNITT.

RAILROAD RAIL SPIKE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9,;910.

1,069,792, Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

Ill

ll 11 g 6 5 l ti'neovea. F 10 JKZ/ew UNTTED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

JULIUS KRUTTSCHNITT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-RAIL SPIKE.

T 0 (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS KRUrrsoI-INITT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Rail Spikes, of whichthe following is a full, true, clear, andeXact description.

My invention relates to improvements in spikes and has particularreference to rail spikes for securing railroad rails to woodencross-ties.

The object of my invention is to provide a rail or track spike whichshall beso formed that while it may be quite easily driven into across-tie, it will be firmly retained therein and may be withdrawn onlyby the exertion of great force.

A further object is to provide a railroad spike so formed that any forceapplied to withdraw the spike will tend to increase the hold of thefibers of the tie upon the spike.

My invention consists in a railroad or track spike having a shank ofsubstantially rectangular cross section and having in one or more of itslongitudinal faces, a longitudinal groove or slot of substantiallyuniform depth but tapered longitudinally and wider at its upper than atits lower end.

The invention also consists in a railroad spike the opposite shank facesof which are provided with shallow, substantially trapezoidal grooves,the bottom walls of said grooves being parallel and said grooves beingtapered and wider at their upper ends than at their lower ends.

It further consists in a track spike having a rectangular shank, a headon one end adapted to engage a rail flange, and a V- shaped point on theother end adapted to sever the fibers of a cross tie, the front and rearfaces of said shank being provided with shallow longitudinal groovesextending from the point and ending adjacent to the head, the bottomwalls of said grooves being parallel, said grooves being tapered andnarrower adjacent to the point than adjacent to the head of the spike,and transverse shoulders on said bottom walls.

It further consists in a track spike having a substantially rectangularbody portion, longitudinal grooves on the front and rear faces of saidbody portion, the bottom walls of said grooves being parallel, saidgrooves being narrower at their lower ends than at their upper ends, andtransverse shoulders Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 9, 1910.

Patented A11 12,1913.

Serial No. 566,005.

on said bottom walls and on the side faces of said body portion.

My invention also consists in the features of construction andcombinations and relations of parts whereby a railroad spike ofexceptionally great holding power is produced, all as hereinafter fullydescribed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a track spike illustrating a suitableembodiment of the preferred form of my invention; Fig. 2 is a sideelevation partly in vertical section of the spike illustrated in Fig. 1;Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a spike showing a modification of theinvention; Fig. t is a horizontal sectional view on the line 4: l ofFig.

2; Fig. 5 is a similar section on the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is asimilar section illustrating a second modification of the invention;Fig. 7 is a section similar to Fig. l, but showing an additionalmodified form of the invention; and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary verticalsection on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

The preferred form of my invention as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4comprises the body portion or shank 1, having the head 2 on one end andthe V-shaped point 3 on the other end. The head 2 is similar to theusual track spike head having the forwardly projecting portion 4 adaptedto overlap and to engage a rail flange and the laterally pro jectingflanges 5 by means of which the spike may be withdrawn from a cross-tie.The V- shaped point is formed by two upwardly and outwardly inclinedsurfaces 6 and 7 forming the cutting edge 8 on their meeting line. Thiscutting edge 8 is adapted to sever the fibers of the tie when the spikeis driven thereinto and'the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 spread the ends ofthe severed fibers curving them downward to a slight degree and placingthem in position to act as struts or braces against the forward and rearfaces of the body of the spike and thus retain the spike in the tie.

The front and rear faces of the spike are provided with longitudinalgrooves 9 extending from the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 and endingadjacent to the head 2 of the spike, in other words they extend theeifec tive length of the body portion of the spike.

Said grooves 9 are substantially trapezoidal in cross section anduniform in depth and consequently the bottom walls 10 thereof areparallel with each other. The grooves 9 are preferably narrower at theirlower ends or adjacent to the point of the spike than at their upperends or adjacent to the head of the spike. This construction results inthe grooves being tapered longitudinally of the spike and adapted, whenan attempt is made to withdraw the spike from the tie, to compress theends of the fibers laterally, which lie within the grooves. This actionof the grooves upon the fibers tends to wedge the fibers within thegrooves and cause additional friction upon the body of the spike andthus prevent its easy withdrawal. The bottom walls 10 and side walls 11of the grooves 9 are provided with a plurality of shallow concavetransverse grooves 12. The grooves 12 are arranged close together andcompletely cover said walls forming transverse shoulders 13therebetween. The inclination of the upper surfaces of the ridges orshoulders 13 is such that they present abutment surfaces substantiallyat right angles to the end of the curved fibers of the crosstie.

As the spike is driven into the tie the chisel. edge 8 severs the fibersof the tie, the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 spread the fibers apart andthe shoulders 13 receive the severed ends, the fibers acting as strutsor braces upon the shoulders 18 to retain the spike in the tie.

I sometimes. prefer to dispense with the transverse shoulders, formingthe grooves 16 with their bottom and side walls smooth as shown in Figs.3 and 5. In this form I rely upon the wedging action of the taperedlongitudinal grooves and the friction caused by the compressive force ofthe fibers of-the tie upon the body of the spike to retain the spike inthe tie against the forces tending to withdraw it.

In addition to the longitudinal grooves 9 in the front and rear faces ofthe spike, I sometimes provide the side faces of the body portion of thespike with shallow concave transverse grooves 14: similar to the grooves12 on the bottom walls of the longitudinal grooves 9. This results inthe side walls being provided with transverse or horizontal shoulders orridges 15 adapted to engage the adjacent fibers of the tie and therebyaid in retaining the spike in the tie.

The grooves 9 are so proportionedin depth to the whole thickness of thespikethat the fibers which are spread thereby are notdistorted beyondtheir elastic limit but are rather distorted or curved downwardly justenough to develop their maximum or greatest holding power.

It is obvious that as the two longitudinal grooves perform theirfunctions independently of each other, either one of them may be omittedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention. 'lVhen I do omit oneof the grooves, I prefer to omit the one from the forward face of thespike (see Fig. 7) as the tendency of the forces acting upon the spikeboth when it is being driven and afterward, is to force the spikebackward into the tie. hen this occurs the groove and ridges on theforward or rail face of the spike are forced out .of contact with thesevered ends of the fibers and are of no practical advantage and may bedispensed with. As the longitudinal grooves do not reduce the effectivedepth or thickness of the spike in the direction in which the forcesacting thereon tend to bend it, that is from front to rear, its strengthto resist such bending is not reduced appreciably while at the same timeit is made somewhat lighter in weight. I

Havlng thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A railroad spike comprising a body portion of substantiallyrectangular crosssection, a head on one end adapted to engage a railflange and a chisel edge on the opposite end adapted to sever and bendthe fibers of the tie when the spike is driven, the front and rear facesof said body port-ion each being provided with a longitudinal grooveextending from the point of the spike and ending adjacentto the headthereof, the bottom walls of said grooves being substantially parallel,said grooves being tapered longitudinally and wider at their upper thanat their lower ends and outwardly and downwardly inclined transverseabutment shoulders on the bottom and side walls of said grooves.

2. A railroad spike comprising a body portion substantially rectangularin cross section, a head on one end adapted to engage a rail flange, anda chisel edge on the opposite end adapted to sever and curve downwardlythe .fibers of the tie when the spike is driven, the forward and rearfaces of said body portion each being provided with a shallowlongitudinal groove open at its lower end extending substantially thelength of the spike and tapered laterally from end to end being wider atits upper than at its lower end, the bottom walls of said grooves beingsubstantially parallel, concave transverse grooves forming shoulders onthe bot tom and side walls of said grooves and transverse shoulders onthe side faces of said body portion.

3. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having a flat bottomedlongitudinal depression open at its lower end in one of its sides, saiddepression being narrower at its lower than at its upper end and aplurality of comparatively small concave transverse grooves in thebottom of said depression forming a plurality of outwardly anddownwardly inclined fiber abutment surfaces within said depression,below the face of the spike.

4. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinaldepressions in opposite faces, said depressions being relatively shallowand substantially uniform in depth throughout their extent and narrowerat their lower than at their upper ends, and provided with a pluralityof comparatively small concave transverse grooves on their bottom wallswhich present a plurality of out-wardly and downwardly extending fiberabutment surfaces.

5. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinaldepressions open at their lower ends in opposite faces, said depressionsbeing substantially uniform in depth throughout their extent andnarrower at their lower than at their upper ends and having the surfacesof said depressions divided into a plurality of comparatively smalltransverse fiber abutment surfaces disposed angularly with respect tothe axis of the spike and inclined outwardly toward the point of thespike.

6. As an article of manufacture, a track spike having longitudinaldepressions in opposite faces, said depressions being substantiallyuniform in depth throughout their extent and wider at their upper thanat their lower ends, the bottom and side walls of said depressionshaving a plurality of comparatively small substantially parallelsurfaces inclined downwardly and outwardly; said surfaces beingvertically concaved, substantially as described.

7. A railroad spike having a substantially rectangular shank, the frontand rear faces of which are each provided with a longitudinal groovesubstantially trapezoidal in cross section, uniform depth, laterallytapered from end to end and wider at their upper than at their lowerends, the bottom walls of said grooves each being provided withtransverse concave grooves closely arranged and forming transverseconcave outwardly and downwardly inclined fiber-abutment shoulders,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 3d day of June,1910, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JULIUS KRUTTSCHNITT.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. ISAACS, R. B. BARTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

